Within the Moonlight
by SweetImagination15
Summary: "Finally, she managed out a smirk at him, and slowly wrapped the thin leather strap around her neck. She gave it a knot, and straightened it to hover above her sternum. It was beautiful, and it did suit her." Many One-Shots for How To Train Your Dragon, but I don't know how many their will be. AstridXHiccup. Rated T.
1. Safety

It was all white.

All white and freezing like he'd got inside a giant cub of ice in the middle of nowhere.

And he was lost.

He was lost in everything.

He was sick of it.

Being always called the Useless.

He wouldn't tolerate it anymore.

If they wouldn't miss him that much, then let them have it their own way.

He'd disappear if that was what they desired so much.

And they would have that wish granted tonight.

He caved through the massive limbs of browned wood, not even bothering to look at the blood trickling down his skin and patching up the silken tissue of his green tunic. Not even bothering about the cold that embraced his body like he was on fire. Not even bothering about the heavy amounts of snow that kissed the delicate skin of his cheeks. Not even bothering if he was alive or not.

But there was pain. Pain and suffering, and coldness. And there was no such thing in Valhalla.

Maybe he ended up in Hel.

But that didn't matter.

He'd get rid of his suffering right now.

His feet were cold as ice, his chestnut hair blinded his vision, not that there was anything important to see. The ground disappeared from his feet for a second, and then he was face to face to a thick bulk of snow, underneath him.

But he did not get up. Instead, he shakily brought his hand and let his fingers curl through the cold like a beg for a welcoming hug. He did not want to feel pain anymore. He did not want to curl into a ball every single night on the corner of his room with dreaded voices insulting him inside his mind. And he certainly did not want to hear his father accuse him for his mother's death once again.

With that, his eyes narrowed in fatigue as the sudden picture of his father flashed across his mind. He would miss his large beard bouncing every time he laughed, his grayish eyes glinting with anger as he prepared himself for another battle, he would miss him. He would miss the green forests of his village, the green leaves gleaming a light shade as the sun bore into their texture. He would miss a pair of blue eyes looking at him…

Astrid.

For him, she was always a goddess, beauty itself incarnated.

He loved the way her blonde hair swayed with the wind as she charged to throw an axe. He loved the way she was brave and different from the others.

But now, he was missing the chance to see her again.

Maybe he should go back, ask for help from there.

But he was lost, in the middle of a thick blanket of snow.

That gave him the little push.

His eyes stung, and then warmth emphasized itself from the corners of his eyes.

He was crying… why?

He'd been so anxious to have his pain snatched away from his shoulders.

But now, he was fragile.

More than usual.

Red spread from his hands to the snow, making it a pale crimson. But, he didn't even feel that pain. He closed his eyes, and the tears slid down his cheeks in thick rivers. Tears of happiness. He managed to crack a smile between silent sobs, realizing about his destiny.

He would be finally free.

There he was.

Surrounded by white, cold, nothing.

He was finally alone, on his way to safety.

No one would miss him.

Just as darkness engulfed him, his name was heard.


	2. Pest

**Okay, so I sort of included a new character, Sigrid, as Hiccup's cousin. She's thirteen and she and Hiccup like each other a lot.**

**Enjoy!**

"Oh, no, I'm so scared."

"Well, you should be!"

"Oh shut up, both of you."

"Did you actually think that was the best idea ever?"

"I d-… I… I DUNNO, SNOTLOUT!"

"Great. Astrid squeezed my cousin's crotch and she only did it for mere randomness."

"Be quiet, Sigrid!"

"Unlike you I'd squeeze him _all_ the time."

"Shut up, Ruff!"

"What? You won't take him, shall the lord be mine."

"Not even a lack of humor was sensed in that statement!"

"I smell danger coming up if these two don't stop bickering like two Terrible Terrors fighting over the last basket of salmon."

Someone was on fire. Not literally, though.

"Uh-oh," Tuffnut grinned, "You just enraged the Blondie. Run for it, I'm telling you."

"At least Fishlegs knows in what he's _not_ messing around," Ruffnut commented, "his mouth's been zipped since this started."

"Good for him, at least he's not going to die."

"Oh, you said the right word." Her blue eyes shone with mischief and anger, positively ready to kill with no mercy. "I don't care if you're his freaking cousin, I'm going to chop off your leg so that you get just like him!"

"You can't."

"Oh, yes I can!"

"No, I mean, you can't because he'll hate you if you do it."

"She's got a point, you know," Snotlout said, immediately regretting it as the girl glared daggers right through his head.

"Oh, come on Astrid, give the girl a break, she's like, thirteen and you're fifteen."

"But—! She—! Ugh!" Astrid snarled, and sat down cross legged on the wooden chair behind her with a rush of defeat rumbling on her chest. Damn that girl. But, although hating it, she was right, if she killed her, Hiccup would hate her.

Sigrid, with an all over-sized grin of victory, merely stared down at the blonde in front of her. Astrid could clearly see the twinkle irradiating from her emerald eyes (which actually reminded her a lot of Hiccup), and it literally told her: _Grab her before it's too late._

"I'll still do that, you know."

Astrid's first thought was to seize her before she ran away, but it was with no avail. The brown haired girl fled towards the door like she'd been hit by Thor's lightning, curls bouncing all over her head as if she really was _that_ innocent.

She stomped on her foot, hard enough to crack an opening.

"WHAT A PEST!"


	3. Misunderstanding

**This sort of came through my mind when I felt exactly the same as Hiccup does here, a few days ago. Pretty dumb, but it sort of worked! xD**

**Enjoy!**

…

Carrying a whole bunch of swords wasn't Hiccup's hobby, simply because just a small slip and he'd probably end up being checked out by the Elder. He couldn't be trusted when it came to weapons.

But, Gobber had asked for him to wander around the village looking for people who needed their swords sharpened. He decided to not argue about it. He wasn't in a bad mood, and he actually had nothing to do, so he just shrugged and nodded hesitantly.

He and Toothless had gone off for a spin in the early morning, which he felt great about. The feeling of the fresh winter air whipping on his cheeks and the adrenaline rush he'd love to get was just blissful to him.

They eventually stopped, and coincidently at the cove so nostalgic to them. Hiccup had been somewhat uncertain if he grabbed the chance to swim a little. The water there was different from the usual water they'd get at the river not too far from home, warmer, yet still cold. He was all sweaty from performing tricks across the skies, so he stepped forward and found himself surrounded by the fresh water embracing him in a relieving manner, and his worries no longer existed.

The bath was wonderful, and he no longer felt under pressure when he came back to the village close to midday.

"Why on Thor's name am I doing this… I'll probably injure myself more than when you make me fly through a wall of fire," Hiccup mumbled at the dark dragon, clumsily avoiding one small dagger to slide from his grasp. Toothless tilted his head to the side, but Hiccup couldn't quite figure out if he was laughing or mocking him.

He smiled at the curly hair glimpse of his cousin close to the forge, and his pace quickened.

"What are you doing there, Sigrid?" he shouted, still looking like a needle under the huge amount of weapons he held above his shoulder.

"I thought I'd come by and check on you," she replied, and gave off a nervous smirk and a frown, "But you seem to be filling out with… swords. Hiccup, you just fight with _one_ sword."

He rolled his eyes at the sarcasm in her voice. Blame him for having that in common.

"I'm not filling out, silly," he explained, and could finally breathe as he settled the bunch of swords above a wooden table. They were so many he didn't even bother to count them.

"I'm just doing a favor for Gobber."

Hiccup fingered the metal form of one sword, and raised it up, only to nearly cut the thick rope of his cousin's fur coat. She grimaced.

"If you want me dead then just say it," she shrugged.

"Sorry," he chuckled. He just had to be more careful with sharp blades…

He didn't feel the hand rising to clean the sweat from his forehead, and blinked knowing it was _his _hand. He sure was off to the moon today.

"Hiccup, are you alright?" Sigrid asked.

Why did she sound so worried? Of course he was.

"Yeah, sure, why do you ask?" His hand went up once more, almost automatically.

Sigrid narrowed her eyes. "Because you're getting pale."

He frowned. He was?

He glanced to the small bowl of water near their heads, and let out a small 'huh' as he confirmed her worries. Why was he so pale? And why was he feeling so weak?

He narrowed his eyes at the sudden blur invading his eyes, as if he was taking a bath with open eyes, and held onto the border of the table to keep his balance. He suddenly just wanted to sit down and do nothing, wait for the weakness to merge, but it kept there.

"H-Hiccup?" Sigrid shrieked, but her voice sounded so far away, so faint.

He couldn't suppress a moan as his knees gave in and he hit the floor weakly, forehead pressed to his palm. Everything was spinning before his eyes, blurry and faded, and he could hear Toothless whining worriedly at the outside of the forge. He had to stand up. Yet, every time he tried to go up, his legs quivered and he landed on the ground with a pained moan. He could feel the warm touch of Sigrid's hand on his back, and he didn't know why he yearned for the warmth. He suddenly felt cold, shocking to be precise. They were inside the forge, close to fire and weapons, and it was impossible to feel cold there. But yet, he did.

"Hiccup? Hiccup!"

"What's goin' on?" Gobber's voice came from the door, but Hiccup didn't dare to look up. His head cringed in pain, and he hissed.

"He suddenly collapsed and I don't know why!" she gasped, trying her best to find a good position to help him up.

But it seemed pointless. His body was so heavy and empty, he just felt like walking around the village with no place to go. The snow out there reached his eyes as he lifted his chin, and he shivered.

"Cold…" he muttered, and Sigrid did hear him.

"Cold?" she raised an eyebrow, "We're inside the forge, you big idiot!"

She didn't know why she wanted to insult him, but she just felt so panicked about his state. She had never seen her cousin so weak since the day he and Toothless had defeated the Green Death (1).

Hiccup heard a similar footstep sound to his, and he realized Gobber was crouching over his limp body.

Gobber tried to grab his arm and pull him up with a scold, but, surprisingly, Hiccup whimpered and clung to one of the table legs. Gobber frowned.

"He probably caught the flu," he said.

Sigrid still felt a little distressed. Vikings didn't catch that much of sicknesses. But, considering Hiccup's scrawny body, she nodded.

"Anyways, he seems too weak to be working," she said.

Then, an idea clicked inside her head. Rising up from the ground, she spun on her wheel and gestured to the pile of unsharpened swords Hiccup had brought.

"I know how to sharpen swords," she announced, "Gobber, you could bring him home while I do his work."

"Aye, that's good," he smiled slightly, "It is nice to know that Hiccup's been teachin' someone somethin' else than Dragon training."

Sigrid nodded, and waved him off as a hint.

Facing back the weak boy, Gobber shook him by the shoulder, and didn't wait for an answer as he seized his arm and lifted him up.

…

Hiccup didn't quite understand why he was feeling so ill. Now, in his bed and facing the wall, he still felt waves of fatigue and pain that came once in a while. He hardly felt his legs, and his shoulder hurt him like Hel. Despite his high temperature, he felt so cold that he didn't even bother to remove his coat when Gobber laid him down in the bed.

He had permitted Toothless to come inside and curl around in a certain corner of his room, but he had his worried eyes facing him. No matter how many times he told him he would be fine, the dragon would be stubborn and whimper at him.

Hiccup chuckled as he felt a warm aura right behind his back and a tail swaying back and forth beyond his eyes.

"Alright, bud, you can sleep here," he assured, and added a little timidly, "I was sort of cold, and you're warm."

Chirping happily, Toothless slowly spread his wing and let it fall over his body, the warmth seeping into his skin like a warm blanket.

Right before he drifted to sleep, a low gnash interrupted him. He frowned the moment Toothless quickly lifted his head from the crook of his neck, and snarled almost protectively, but softened at the sight. Hiccup glanced the same way, peeking from the small edge of his wing, and tried to hand the visitor a weak smile. Visitors, actually.

"Man, you look terrible!" Tuffnut grinned, "Well, more than usual."

Snotlout laughed at the joke, but Astrid's punch knocked it dead. Returning to the smile she only gave Hiccup, she carefully sat on the edge of the bed, and softly tickled Toothless' swinging tail.

"How are you?" she asked. Hiccup gave her a small shrug.

"Alive," he joked. His voice sounded low and husky, positively weak.

Ruffnut sputtered at the answer.

"Oh really, we didn't know that Captain Duh," Ruffnut teased, folding her arms above her chest.

Astrid rolled her eyes at her, and faced him back, "Your father is very worried, actually, but he had to talk to someone I think."

His lips twitched indifferently. It wasn't like Stoick the Vast, his father, ever cared about these kind of occurrences.

"I'm not so worried about what he thinks," he mumbled, mostly to himself, but they heard it.

"Hey, don't get so glum," Astrid scolded, "But, anyways, how did you get ill?"

"You tell me," Hiccup scowled, "One minute I'm perfectly fine and in the other the room is spinning. Funny, isn't it?"

"Taking in fact if the room were _really_ spinning it would be cool," Fishlegs corrected.

He shrugged, shaking his head to say he really wasn't sure of what happened. A painful thud inside his head reminded him of his headache, so he clenched his teeth in agony.

"I was just… fine when I… went flying with Toothless—"

"Wait, what?" Ruffnut interrupted, "You went flying with Toothless?"

"When?" Astrid asked. Hiccup bit his lower lip rather thoughtfully, searching in his head what hour it seemed to be when he went out. He even gave a small look back at the dragon, but he seemed as thoughtful as he did.

"Around early morning, probably six o'clock," he coughed slightly, and pressed his back to Toothless' chest for warmth.

"You…" Astrid narrowed her eyes, "You didn't actually go for a swim at the cove, did you?"

The moment Hiccup's green eyes slid away guiltily, she glared at him accusingly.

"You idiot," she hissed, slapping her own forehead. She felt like punching him, but if she did, Toothless would tear her into tiny pieces.

"You should know well that if you take a freezing bath after sweating that much isn't so fitting for the body!" she practically yelled, and all of the teens stepped back cautiously. Even Toothless seemed to shift a little.

Hiccup licked his lips, grinning awkwardly up at her.

"Sorry," he whispered, rubbing his shoulder when it lighted with ache, "I was too hot to remember that. But, yeah, that's probably why I'm—"he pointed to the bed mattress "—in this state."

"Too hot to remember that, huh?" Tuffnut raised an eyebrow suggestively.

"Tuffnut," Hiccup glared at him, "You know what I meant."

The door behind Fishlegs swayed open, and a familiar giggle echoed from the outside. Hiccup smiled at Sigrid when she slowly leaned her back against the wall, her arms crossed above her chest.

"One Hel of swords you had to sharpen, cousin. But I'm glad I did it, because with you in that state, you'd be dead already," she winked, while the gang followed by laughter.

"Oh, and by the way," Sigrid smirked, "It seems our 'Hiccup's illness not-so-illness' case came to an end."

Before Hiccup could frown, she lifted her hand to the air, holding a small object within her fist. She released it, but it didn't fall to the ground. Instead, it was a very beautiful necklace, dangling beside her cheek, the pendant itself being a silvery clover. Astrid nearly awed at it. The shapes were perfect, almost as a frozen clover, but she clearly knew that it wasn't.

"That… you did it?" she asked, glancing at his face. She had never seen such a perfect sculptured flower.

"He did, with me," Sigrid grinned, but Astrid ignored it, "I found this at the cove when I was out for a walk in the forest, and deduced what could have happened. You apparently haven't learned your lesson ever since that day, have you?"

Hiccup's face went instantly red.

"Oh, Sigrid," Snotlout teased, "He was, ahem, too hot to remember that."

"Like I said," Hiccup muttered through clenched teeth, "You. Know. What. I. Meant."

Astrid smirked at his reaction. Blushing and embarrassed Hiccup always made him cute. Well, cuter.

"At least we know it was just a misunderstanding," Fishlegs said, which Sigrid answered with a nod.

"Then," Tuffnut blurted, "how about we leave these two lovebirds alone? I don't want to be here yet. I prefer to wait until the public consummation in, probably, some good five years. If you know what I mean."

Surely, Astrid and Hiccup knew what he was talking about. It was a matter of seconds before Astrid's fist brutally collided with his left cheek, keeping on an emotionless expression as if she didn't feel what she just did. Hiccup stared wide eyed as she brushed her hands to clean the invisible dust out, her mission apparently 'accomplished'. Toothless didn't hold back a slight smirk. Tuffnut rubbed his cheek annoyingly, while Ruffnut laughed at his miserable state.

With Tuffnut and Ruffnut arguing about how Hiccup's public consummation would be, Snotlout ending up joining the fight by saying 'I'd do better than him', Sigrid and Fishlegs waved them goodbye and closed the door behind their backs, leaving them in a somewhat comforting silence.

"Wait," a voice rumbled through the wood, and they recognized as Sigrid's. What now…?

Surely, the door shot open, and if it weren't for Astrid's fast reflexes, the clover shaped necklace would've ended up somewhere on the floor. She caught it easily, hanging it beyond her eyes.

Sigrid smiled, before waving again. Astrid sighed. Finally no more nonsense.

She plopped back to the bed wearily, careful about the potential splinters able of poking her skin and the weakened figure lying down beside her. She grimaced.

"That was…"

"Comforting?" Hiccup finished for her. She smiled, and curiously eyed the pendant once more. It still amazed her after all, but she wouldn't confess such cheesy thing.

"Where on Earth you got the skills so greater?" she asked, cupping the form delicately.

She didn't know why his cheeks suddenly got as red as Tuffnut gave that comment, and his lips drew a nervous smile at her.

"I worked very hard on this one," he confessed, "That's why Sigrid helped me finding the perfect clover to draw and blacksmith."

Her cheeks matched his as he spoke the next sentence, gripping the necklace hard.

"It's for you."

Astrid gaped at him. For… her? This almost magical pendant was hers?

When she didn't answer, Hiccup continued.

"To give you luck," he smiled, "When I'm not there."

Finally, she managed out a smirk at him, and slowly wrapped the thin leather strap around her neck. She gave it a knot, and straightened it to hover above her sternum. It was beautiful, and it did suit her. She glanced over at Toothless.

"Toothless, can I borrow him for a second?" she whispered.

Both Hiccup and the dragon seemed somewhat confused about her request, but upon smelling her hair and finding no harmful intentions, Toothless raised one darkened wing and laid it flat against his stomach, exposing Hiccup to the cold weather.

"Come here," she whispered, smiling.

Hiccup did as she told so, shivering and stumbling in her direction, and when he lost control over his arm, Astrid's arm immediately caught him, and gently laid his head on her lap. He rolled over to face her deep pools of blue color, and smiled as she seized the blanket and shielded his body from the cold. Bowing slightly, she planted a peck on his lips.

"Thank you," she whispered, "It's wonderful."

Hiccup closed his eyes as she started to stroke his hair sweetly, and she sighed contently at the background rhythm of Hiccup's breathing and Toothless' snoring.

Later, Stoick was dumbfounded to find his son and the girl asleep on his bed, both close to each other as her hand tangled within his hair, and the low sound of the dragon's happy snoring filling in the air.

Stoick chuckled to himself, and shook his head with a smile.

…

**(1) I don't know if it's called the Green or Red Death, but it'd be awesome if you gave me that answer in a REVIEW! :D**

**Oh, gods. This came out much longer than what I expected… awesome!**

**I love you guys, so why not a review?**


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